If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Hybrid View

Minicomics: Continuity and Reading Order

As a comic book collector, the continuity for the classic minicomics has also been of interest to me and last week I finally decided to sit down and work out a reading order for the series. I based this first on the order in which people/vehicles/powers are introduced and reused, and secondly on what made a good overall 'flow.' Since the comics sort of run in 'seasons' like TV, I liked to build to a big battle at the end of each wave of books.

NOTE: I do own quite a few of the whole run, but do to my research I used the totally awesome site The Good Old Days, which I highly recommend as the most thorough collection of He-Man and She-Ra reading I have seen anywhere on the 'net. It's all too low-res to reprint, but for pure reading and completist enjoyment it can't be beat: http://www.goodolddays.net/comics/index.pl?id=22

Anyway, after the first four books ("Power Sword," Battle in the Clouds," etc) which I think are numbered 1-4 and run as such, you have the 2nd series (i.e. "He-Man Meets Ram-Man," "Teela of Teela") which basically run in the order in which the Heroic and Evil Warriors amass their allies. All you need to do is see who's working for He-Man and Skeletor in each issue, and the order becomes clear.

2nd Series:

The Magic Stealer
Ordeal of Man-E-Faces
He-Man Meets Ram Man
The Terror of Tri-Klops
The Menace of Trap Jaw
The Tale of Teela
The Power of Point Dread!

The last two books are interesting because they're actually Part 1 and 2 of the same story, in which Skeletor tries and fails and tries again to gain control of Point Dread. It's the only two-parter in the whole series, really.

I'm gonna break this up, so next post: Horde! Snake Men! Eternia!

Last edited by keith mccleary; December 22, 2009 at 03:24am.
Reason: Automerged Doublepost

cool. keep it up. I was hoping the continuity was correct on the He.Man.org>Collecting>Publishing>Masters of the Universe Mini Comics part of the site. They list each comic as Series, and order... ie The Magic Stealer is Series 2; 6 of 7. But you have it as the first of seven. I'm just beginning my collection of Mini Comics and was intending on not reading them until I had a full series.. and reading them in continuity. So your thread will help. Thanks.!

You know, I'd forgotten that the Minicomics page here on the site gives their own order for the books -- I went and looked at it, then flipped through my series two books .... and they may be right about "Magic Stealer."

Basically, Point Dread gets placed on top of Castle Greyskull in "Tale of Teela," and there's ONE panel in "Magic Stealer" which shows it on top of Greyskull, at the end of the book.

So I'll give them that one. Which is annoying, because "He-Man Meets Ram-Man" is a lame start to the series!

Anyway, that change aside, I still disagree with their numbering for series 4 (the Horde is introduced in a very specific order). And it just looks like there are some mistakes for series 5 and 6 -- for example "Powers of Greyskull," the Preternia comic, is definitely the final book in the run and in the site's numbering it's followed by two other books. Also, all you have to do is take a glance at "The Obelisk" to know it comes much earlier than series 4.

----

As for series 3, there's not really any continuity to it at all. To my eye, the only important thing about it is that is has two distinct styles. First, there are the books that continue with the very high-fantasy, Conan-influenced books that had come before in the first two series. I really like these books, but I don't feel like they have much to do with the rest of the run.
Series 3, part 1

The Obelisk
The Siege of Avion
Masks of Power
He-Man and the Insect People
Dragon's Gift

Like I said, there are some real choice books in there -- but I think if these minicomics were ever a numbered series, the books in waves 1 and 2 would be added to these, in series 3, as a "MOTU Vol 1" sort of thing, and the entire rest of the entire minicomic run would be a "Vol 2."

Taken another way, the DC miniseries of newsstand comic books were very very different from the STAR series that came out a short time later. It's all good, all He-Man -- but as we know, a very different feel between the early years and the later ones.

The second part of series 3 is really the unofficial start to what I've always thought of as the "toy canon" -- with all the different factions, vehicles, sci-fi elements and gadgets, and crazy playsets as centerpieces.

These can pretty much be read in any order, but I recommend the following. "Temple of Darkness" is a good simple opening that re-introduces all the characters, and the last page mirrors "Energy Zoids" --- waaaaay down the line, the last book in the series before the trip to Preternia -- in a way that's too dead-on to be a coincidence. And "Clash of Arms" is a huge brawl with a calm-before-the-storm sort of ending, setting up what's coming in series 4.

Series 3, Part Two

Temple of Darkness
Slave City
Double Edged Sword
Secret Liquid of Life
Clash of Arms

Every book has it`s own production number printed on either the front or back, put these numbers in order and you have your reading order The Powers of Grayskull was not the last comic, The Cosmic Key comic was

Every book has it`s own production number printed on either the front or back, put these numbers in order and you have your reading order The Powers of Grayskull was not the last comic, The Cosmic Key comic was

Hey, absolutely -- but the production numbers don't actually always make sense with what's happening in the stories. I'm putting this together in terms of when characters are introduced.

Take series 4 -- where I'm starting next. According to the production numbers, the first book to introduce the Horde is "Hordak - the Ruthless Leader's Revenge!" But if you read the book, all the characters are on a first-name basis with one another -- the entire Horde is there (minus Modulok,) and everyone knows who everyone else is. (He-Man calls Hordak by name as soon as the villains arrive, in fact.)

On the other hand, if you introduce the Horde with "Grizzlor - The Legend Comes Alive," the entire story revolves around the fact that not only have the Heroic Warriors never heard of Grizzlor, they've never heard of the Horde at all. Teela is the first hero to meet Hordak, and he introduces himself very clearly then. But in "Leech - the Master of Power Suction Unleashed," the heroes have STILL not heard of Leech until they confront him on the beach. And this is the LAST Horde comic of series 4, if you follow the production numbers!

And so on. Like I said, this is just a reading order, but for me it works better than the production order. In some cases I make choices because I like how it reads, but a lot of times it's just plain ol' continuity.

I'll make note of this from now on. If it says "intro" it is DEFINITELY the first appearance of a character, meaning that any other appearances of that character HAVE to appear later on.

Sometimes the intros are just "likely" -- not exactly an origin story, but nonetheless it seems that a character is being introduced/showcased in a particular book. I'll make note of that too.

And if I have no other reason, I arrange things by how it reads. For example, I bookended series 4 with Dragon Blast Skeletor at the beginning and Thunder Punch He-Man at the end, because that's just cool.

DISCLAIMER: The only bit of continuity that can't be fixed is that in almost every Horde issue, there's some mention of a dimensional portal being opened for the "first" time. Can't really do anything about that one.

Hey, absolutely -- but the production numbers don't actually always make sense with what's happening in the stories. I'm putting this together in terms of when characters are introduced.

Take series 4 -- where I'm starting next. According to the production numbers, the first book to introduce the Horde is "Hordak - the Ruthless Leader's Revenge!" But if you read the book, all the characters are on a first-name basis with one another -- the entire Horde is there (minus Modulok,) and everyone knows who everyone else is. (He-Man calls Hordak by name as soon as the villains arrive, in fact.)

On the other hand, if you introduce the Horde with "Grizzlor - The Legend Comes Alive," the entire story revolves around the fact that not only have the Heroic Warriors never heard of Grizzlor, they've never heard of the Horde at all. Teela is the first hero to meet Hordak, and he introduces himself very clearly then. But in "Leech - the Master of Power Suction Unleashed," the heroes have STILL not heard of Leech until they confront him on the beach. And this is the LAST Horde comic of series 4, if you follow the production numbers!

And so on. Like I said, this is just a reading order, but for me it works better than the production order. In some cases I make choices because I like how it reads, but a lot of times it's just plain ol' continuity.

I'll make note of this from now on. If it says "intro" it is DEFINITELY the first appearance of a character, meaning that any other appearances of that character HAVE to appear later on.

Sometimes the intros are just "likely" -- not exactly an origin story, but nonetheless it seems that a character is being introduced/showcased in a particular book. I'll make note of that too.

And if I have no other reason, I arrange things by how it reads. For example, I bookended series 4 with Dragon Blast Skeletor at the beginning and Thunder Punch He-Man at the end, because that's just cool.

DISCLAIMER: The only bit of continuity that can't be fixed is that in almost every Horde issue, there's some mention of a dimensional portal being opened for the "first" time. Can't really do anything about that one.

* He-Man and the Power Sword
* King of Castle Grayskull
* Battle in the Clouds
* The Vengeance of Skeletor

1982

* The Magic Stealer!
* He-Man Meets Ram-Man
* The Ordeal of Man-E-Faces
* The Terror of Tri-Klops
* The Menace of Trap Jaw
* The Tale of Teela
* The Power of... Point Dread!

1983

* Siege of Avion
* Dragon's Gift
* Masks of Power
* He-Man and the Insect People
* Slave City
* The Secret Liquid of Life
* The Temple of Darkness
* Double-Edged Sword
* Spikor Strikes
* The Clash of Arms

1984

* The Obelisk
* The Battle of Roboto
* Leech: The Master of Power Suction Unleashed!
* Grizzlor: The Legend Comes Alive!
* Mantenna and the Menace of the Evil Horde!
* Hordak: The Ruthless Leader's Revenge!
* Skeletor's Dragon
* The Stench of Evil

1985

* The Treachery of Modulok
* The Flying Fists of Power
* The Terror Claws Strike!
* Rock People to the Rescue
* Escape from the Slime Pit!
* King of the Snake Men
* The Fastest Draw in the Universe
* Between a Rock and a Hard Place!
* The Warrior Machine
* Snake Attack!
* The Menace of Multi-Bot
* Eye of the Storm
* The Hordes of Hordak

I have a couple of questions about the mini-comics. I just found my mini-comics yesterday evening and I was wondering about some things.

* I'm from Belgium and it seems that I'm missing a lot of comics from wave 2. I didn't miss any of the figures but I guess they were either accompanied by an older comic or a new comic. I remember having multiple copies of the first four comics, so I guess that's the explanation.

* Some of my comics are just in English, others have four languages and others only German and Italian (these last ones were much to the dismay of my father who had to translate them to me). Was that because of the production origin of the figures?

* I have a Spanish version of 'He-Man and the Power Sword' that has some images of the earliest toys in the middle of it. I got it from a friend who bought his Beast-Man while he was on vacation in Spain. Can somebody tell me more about this?

* He-Man and the Power Sword
* King of Castle Grayskull
* Battle in the Clouds
* The Vengeance of Skeletor

1982

* The Magic Stealer!
* He-Man Meets Ram-Man
* The Ordeal of Man-E-Faces
* The Terror of Tri-Klops
* The Menace of Trap Jaw
* The Tale of Teela
* The Power of... Point Dread!

1983

* Siege of Avion
* Dragon's Gift
* Masks of Power
* He-Man and the Insect People
* Slave City
* The Secret Liquid of Life
* The Temple of Darkness
* Double-Edged Sword
* Spikor Strikes
* The Clash of Arms

1984

* The Obelisk
* The Battle of Roboto
* Leech: The Master of Power Suction Unleashed!
* Grizzlor: The Legend Comes Alive!
* Mantenna and the Menace of the Evil Horde!
* Hordak: The Ruthless Leader's Revenge!
* Skeletor's Dragon
* The Stench of Evil

1985

* The Treachery of Modulok
* The Flying Fists of Power
* The Terror Claws Strike!
* Rock People to the Rescue
* Escape from the Slime Pit!
* King of the Snake Men
* The Fastest Draw in the Universe
* Between a Rock and a Hard Place!
* The Warrior Machine
* Snake Attack!
* The Menace of Multi-Bot
* Eye of the Storm
* The Hordes of Hordak

* The Story of She-Ra
* Journey to Mizar
* The Hidden Symbols Mystery
* Disappearing Treasures
* Adventure of the Blue Diamond

1986

* Across the Crystal Light Barrier
* A Fishy Business
* A Most Unpleasant Present
* A Born Champion

1987

* Don't Rain on my Parade
* Where Hope has Gone
* Fantastic Fashions

The New Adventures of He-Man

1989

* The New Adventure
* Skeletor's Journey
* Battle for the Crystal
* The Revenge of Skeletor

Is this list correct?

I only ask because after the well known first 4 mini comics, The Tale of Teela, The Magic Stealer and the Power of Point Dread are numbered 5, 6 and 7 respectively. They have the number in the right hand corner of the comic. Yet, in the above list they are placed in a different sequence

I only ask because after the well known first 4 mini comics, The Tale of Teela, The Magic Stealer and the Power of Point Dread are numbered 5, 6 and 7 respectively. They have the number in the right hand corner of the comic. Yet, in the above list they are placed in a different sequence

They're numbered as the fifth through seventh of the second series (I think). Also, I'm pretty certain there isn't 1 exact/proper reading order. I've actually done up my own reading order I may have to post some time. Parts of it are based on logical jumps (characters first appearances, or their evolution of design), and in cases where it isn't as important, I grouped others together (like all the Alacala-drawn issues before the first Lee Nordling-edited issues).

I only ask because after the well known first 4 mini comics, The Tale of Teela, The Magic Stealer and the Power of Point Dread are numbered 5, 6 and 7 respectively. They have the number in the right hand corner of the comic. Yet, in the above list they are placed in a different sequence

As josh said, their numbering is only for them to be in "wave 2".

You can't really place "Tale of Teela" as 5th overall from starting with the mini-comics, because of the origins of Tri-Klops and Trap-Jaw.

They're numbered as the fifth through seventh of the second series (I think). Also, I'm pretty certain there isn't 1 exact/proper reading order. I've actually done up my own reading order I may have to post some time. Parts of it are based on logical jumps (characters first appearances, or their evolution of design), and in cases where it isn't as important, I grouped others together (like all the Alacala-drawn issues before the first Lee Nordling-edited issues).

Help ordering the horde minicomics

Hi there,
I have recently acquired the Horde minicomics which came with the figures and I would want to make a big minibook with all of them. I would want to know the chronological order. Not the order of release but the order in the story. I think that the first one is the one of Leech but not sure. Thanks a lot!

Great, I was just going to post a thread about the order of the mini-comics, and the search feature found one for me.

Keith and the others, thank you for your research into this!

My two cents is this: when I got some mini-comics, I put them in order according to serial number, naturally assuming the comic with the lowest number was written first, with successive numbers fitting in later, etc. But that doesn't seem to work. But shouldn't it?? (why couldn't they just number these things, lol)

Example: According to the serial #s, the order of these three should be:

The Magic Stealer

The Power of...Point Dread!"

The Tale of Teela!

But, these are the 3 that have the #s in the upper right corner: 5, 6, and 7. Yet going by order of serial #, they read this way: 6, 7, 5.

It also puts "Hordak - The Ruthless Leader's Revenge" - before any of the mini-comics introducing Grizzlor, Leech, Mantenna, or Spikor.

So what's the deal??

If no one knows, I'll just have to go by this thread for the closest most logical continuity, although I thought surely the serial numbers were "the" way to go...but apparently not.